Long time readers know that I have nothing particular against hunting. Or to be more accurate, that hunting isn’t a hill I’m willing to die on. I grew up in an area that gave kids the first day of buck season off of school, my father was an avid hunter until his disability kept him from the woods, and I personally enjoy venison. Of course, people don’t actually need to go hunting for their meat anymore in the society we have built, and I question why father/child bonding activities/outdoor recreation have to include the murder of an innocent animal, but my non-vegetarian ass isn’t going to pick a fight where I’m the obvious hypocrite.

Frequent visitors probably aren’t aware of my thoughts on things such as Make-A-Wish, because I doubt I have ever had a reason to bring it up, although I am sure they aren’t surprised to hear that I am all for it. Hell, it is the only reason I tolerate the existence of John Cena. Enabling disabled/sick/dying children to have experiences that otherwise would be impossible while helping them to forget, if even for one brief moment, the shitty hand the non-existent creator of the universe dealt them, is a good thing.

Hoyt said he connected with Hoster through the organization “Moment of Peace Adventures,” a nonprofit whose mission is to send youths, 18 and under, who have a severe physical disability or a life threatening illness on a hunting or fishing trip, according to its website.

Okay, once again, I wish these kids wanted to do something other than murder wildlife, but I’m not picking that fight. If that is their wish, then I am very thankful they get the chance to experience it. But back to the point now, how visually impaired?

Hoster has juvenile glaucoma, according to Hoyt, and has no vision in her right eye and only has 10 percent vision in her left eye. She’s able to see about 16 inches in front of her, he said, and also has other medical issues.

Oh, okay, that’s not too bad I gu… What the Jesus H. pogo sticking Christ!!!? 10% vision in one eye? She can see 16 inches in front of her? And you let her shoot a gun? Nah, that’s crazy. I bet he held the rifle with her and she just pulled the trigger or something.

To help Hoster find the deer, a special iPhone attachment was attached to the rifle scope, Hoyt said. The phone and attachment allowed her to see more clearly.

“It worked like a charm,” he said.

Other than the special attachment, the technique she and Hoyt used to take the deer wasn’t too different from what a person with sight would use, Hoyt said. The adults spotted the deer first and helped her get into position until she found it in the scope. She was able to shoot the deer — a Père David’s deer, specifically — and harvest it by herself.

I give up. Our nation is so in love with its guns that not only can we not pass laws banning high capacity magazines and assault rifles, but we feel that killing things with those guns is so important that we take legally blind people into the woods and let them shoot at things.

I fully expect to be called a child hating Grinch for this post. So be it. I totally support Make-A-Wish and other similar groups, but not every wish is possible. If a blind child’s wish was to drive a lap at Daytona would they strap her into the car with an instructor to talk her through the turns? What if she really wanted to shoot an apple off someone’s head?

I would never tell a disabled person that they were not able to do something, because that is a great way to get proved wrong. Before this story, I had no doubt in my mind that a blind person could shoot a deer, and the story proves that it is possible. But it fails to answer a different question, which is should a blind person shoot a deer?

I am sure they were very careful and took multiple safety precautions. That being said, hunting accidents are depressingly common and that is with hunters who have no vision impairments. Placing a loaded gun in the hands of an individual who can only see 16 inches in front of them, with 10% vision in only one eye, is tempting the hand of fate. I’m sure everyone involved in this story thought that they had their safety bases covered, and that nothing could go wrong.

We will start off all the way back in May. Remember May? I know, ancient history. Anyway, it was before the Supreme Court decision that legalized the killing of Christiansthat forced all Christian men to get gay married that gave all Americans equal rights when it came to marriage, and some bigots were making noise about a Constitutional amendment banning gay marriage (or some such, equally impossible to pass garbage) and Carly was asked her opinion. (From Rightwing Watch):

In an interview with the Iowa conservative blog Caffeinated Thoughts this weekend, GOP presidential candidate Carly Fiorina said that she would oppose any effort to amend the Constitution to reverse a Supreme Court decision striking down bans on marriage equality.

This was apparently an evolved viewpoint for her on this issue:

(she) …said in a 2010 Christian Coalition candidate survey that she would support a Federal Marriage Amendment banning gay marriage.

Here, I’ll just let you hear her say it.

For those of you who can’t watch the video, in a nutshell she simply said that she wouldn’t support an amendment overturning the Supreme Court decision if it legalized marriage equality, that the government should not discriminate when it comes to benefits, and that people should accept the decision and work to make sure people’s religious freedom is protected.

Of course, now that we see what the GOP primary is going to look like with Trump in the field, it should be obvious that her conservative answer to that question is no longer conservative enough. So what to do? Well, when you got Lies like Fiorina, you do what comes naturally. You lie.

Fiorina displayed her signature truthiness once again in an interview Friday with Iowa conservative radio host Jan Mickelson, who asked her to defend her statement that Supreme Court decisions like Obergefell v. Hodges are “the law of the land,” which he said would turn off voters in Iowa.

Fiorina insisted that she had never said that, speculating, “I think that is a quote from someone else, not from me,” and suggesting that Mickelson might be thinking of her Republican rival John Kasich.

Oh, Jesus H. Christ on a fucking pogo stick, Carly. It’s on video. Here’s the quote from the above video, for the sake of the truth:

“I think the Supreme Court decision will become the law of the land, and however much I may agree or disagree with it, I wouldn’t support an amendment to reverse it,” she said. “And I very much hope that we will come to a place now in this nation where we can support their decision and at the same time support people’s right to hold religious views and to protect their right to exercise those views.”

Now if this was the beltway, it would end right there. “She said she didn’t say it, so she didn’t say it.” Unfortunately for Fiorina, she was in Iowa on a show with a batshit insane conservative who probably considers her a moderate Democrat.

UPDATE: Fiorina appeared again on Mickelson’s program on Monday, where he confronted her a clip of her “law of the land” comments. Fiorina evaded the question, telling Mickelson that she had “no idea what reference that snippet was from,” but that if it was “about gay marriage” she was saying that “we profoundly disagree with this” and will focus on finding Supreme Court nominees who will overturn it.

What I said, for example, was we need to be, if that was about gay marriage, we profoundly disagree with this, we need to invest our political capital and our leadership now in protecting religious liberty all across this nation, which means every state needs to enact a religious freedom protection act, as we have a national act. And it also reminds us how important it is who’s on the Supreme Court. So, let’s focus our energies on making sure we have the right nominees and the right protections and liberties.

Looks like someone went to the “George W. Bush School of Politics.”

Lie.

Lie.

Lie with confidence.

Lie some more.

Double down on the lies.

Accuse your opponents of lying.

Can someone please escort the GOP to the timeout chair until they are willing to act like adults?

I’ll be honest. I would not be surprised at all if changing the laws so that only property owners may vote became an official goal of the GOP. Here’s Fox “News'” legal commentator, Judge Napolitano making some brilliant insights, from Media Matters.

NAPOLITANO: You know, there’s a lot of debate without getting too academic about what the right to vote is. Is it a fundamental right that comes from our humanity like thought and speech and association and worship and self-defense? Or is it a privilege given by the government? In my view, the Supreme Court has wrongly said it’s a fundamental right.

Yeah, he made the comment during a discussion on illegal immigration while lying like Fiorina about the effects of California’s new “Register Every Eligible Voter” law, so I’m sure the bobble-heads sitting at home, bobble-heading right along, think he is just talking about brown people’s “right” to vote. So yeah, keep right on voting Republican cause of (racism/misogyny/sexism/homophobia/closeted self-hatred/abortion/guns), I’m sure they have the average citizens best interest in mind at all times.

As for the lyingest liar that’s ever lied (2015 edition), well we’ll deal with her next….

First off, greetings m’lord, how’s the fog and rain? Not sure what caused the rather large influx of visitors from the U.K., but I’m not complaining. Some of my fondest memories occurred on the British Isles.

Of course, that’s not enough to warrant a post, so….

Progressives, liberals, or whatever you prefer to call yourselves. Can we please get off Ahmed Mohamed‘s underage dick?

He built a clock. Yeah, the school’s response was idiotic, especially since they knew damn well it wasn’t a bomb (cause if they actually would have any doubts, you can bet the school would have been evacuated and the bomb squad called in to make sure), but it isn’t like this is the first time a school has responded idiotically to a zero threat situation. Yeah, a lot of the stories the right’s outrage machine cranks out are false. Kids don’t get suspended for reading the Bible, or praying silently at their desk. But a girl did get strip searched over an Advil and a kid did get suspended for chewing his Pop Tart into a gun like shape. I don’t remember either of them getting invitations to the White House, though the right did admittedly try to make the Pop Tart Bandit into a poster child for something or other. (Which was every bit as ridiculous as the left making the Clock kid into a celebrity.)

Let’s be honest.

Photo provided by the Irvine, Texas, Police Department of the digital clock that 14-year-old Ahmed Mohammed made from a pencil case.

That is awesome. When I was 14, if I would have built something like that I would have been proud as well, and I would have also wanted to show it off. But in a post-9/11 America, where people are on edge and taught to report any unattended package, can you kinda understand how someone may look at that and get a bit freaked out? Hell, first time I saw the picture, with no background information, I thought it was a fake bomb. I would have still brought it in to show my science teacher, but I first would have explained to him/her what I was bringing in before hand.

Was the school’s response colored by a healthy dose of Islamophobia? Yeah, probably. Is it sad that we live in a country where I would urge any young person, no matter their race or religion, not to bring an awesome science project to school if anyone could possibly mistake it for a bomb? Yep, definitely. National paranoia doesn’t make us safer, just less free. Depending on racial/religious profiling to prevent terrorism just increases the likelihood that the people behind the next attack don’t fit into those categories. Protip: Not every Islamic terrorist looks like the stereotypical Islamic terrorist. Do you think they can’t read or listen to the news? That they are unaware that we pay special attention to those who “look terroristy?”That all, or even most terrorists are Islamic? *cough*OklahomaCity*cough*

Ahmed Mohammed never should have been put in handcuffs. The school’s reaction was insane. But all “zero tolerance” policies are insane, just like mandatory minimum sentences are insane. But he isn’t a “hero,” just another victim of the “zero tolerance” society we are creating. I’m reluctant to do any victim blaming here, because I am far from convinced the school would have had the same reaction if he would have been Christian and white.

So yeah, feel free to continue bitching about a “zero tolerance” system that routinely treats kids like criminals for nothing. But get off this kid’s dick already. He’s underage.

“Muslims feel that their religion is very much a part of your public life and what you do as a public official, and that’s inconsistent with our principles and our Constitution.”

Wait.

What the holy Jesus fuck did he just say?

Is he suggesting that Republican Christians don’t feel the same exact way, or is he playing the tired old “Christian Nation” card? Want to see the Right Wing Outrage Machine crank up into Spinal Tap levels? Make the exact same, word for word argument suggesting that Christians are unfit for the Presidency.

*shakes head sadly*

Cause Kim Davis definitely doesn’t feel her religion affects what she does as a public official, that’s for sure.

And so it was that in February, the two teenagers were arrested for sexually exploiting … themselves.

Wait, what now?

The strange story began last year when the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office was investigating accusations of a statutory rape involving students at Douglas Byrd High School in Fayetteville, N.C., according to the Fayette Observer.

As part of a broad investigation, Sheriff’s deputies examined the cellphone of Cormega Copening, a star football player who was then 16 years old.

The deputies didn’t find any evidence relating to the alleged statutory rape. What they did find, however, were consensually taken nude photos of Copening and his girlfriend, Brianna Denson, also 16 at the time.

(The Post is using the teenagers’ names because they have been charged as adults. They did not return requests for comment.)

Just as a quick aside. How “broad” was their investigation into this statutory rape to justify them seizing this kid’s cellphone? And then they charge him with a crime over pictures they found on his phone unrelated to the case they were investigating? That may be legal, but you will never convince me that it is ethical. Moving on….

In almost any other state, such consensually taken photos would be completely legal or, at worst, a misdemeanor. But in North Carolina, Copening and Denson came up against a counterintuitive confluence of laws.

“In North Carolina you are considered an adult at 16 years old as far as being charged,” Swain said. “But to disseminate and receive sexually explicit texts, photos or videos, you must be over 18.”

And so it was that in February, the two teenagers were arrested for sexually exploiting … themselves.

North Carolina to the teens: “Sex? Sexting? Don’t you kids know you could ruin your lives doing this stuff? Here, let us ruin your lives to show you.”

Charging documents listed Copening as both the culprit (as an adult) and the victim (as a minor), simply for snapping a nude photo of himself in the mirror and sending it to his girlfriend.

“Copening’s age traps him in a sort of sexting legal netherworld,” wrote North Carolina Lawyers Weekly. “He’s accused of exploiting a minor (himself), but because North Carolina is one of just two states that automatically tries 16-year-olds as adults, he’s being tried as an adult.”

So as we try to wrap our minds around the idea of sexually exploiting yourself, at least we can take solace in the knowledge that as ridiculous as these charges are, at least they aren’t serious.

All told, prosecutors charged Copening with five felony counts of sexually exploiting a minor: two for taking nude selfies, two more for sending them to his girlfriend, and one for possessing an explicit photo of Denson on his phone. Denson, meanwhile, was charged with two felony counts of sexual exploitation of a minor: one for taking a nude selfie and another for sending it to Copening.

Jesus fucking Christ on a pogo stick. Hasn’t this prosecutors office ever heard of judgement calls? Why the hell did they even file these charges? Are they black or something? (Yep.)

While the existence of the internet resulted in the accused couples prom(?) pictures to be plastered on newspapers across the world, it also made damn sure that this case wouldn’t be yet another example of prosecutorial misconduct heard of by no one except those involved. Thankfully, in this case the outcry may be loud enough to change future applications of the law.

The case quickly drew intense criticism, both in Fayetteville community and around the globe.

“We’ve got too much big crime in this community to put this kind of effort into wrecking two kids’ lives,” wrote the Fayetteville Observer’s editorial board, recommending the statutes be amended. “This should never happen again to anyone.”

Legal scholars lined up to pick apart the prosecution’s case. Many focused on the sheer absurdity of the situation.

“It’s dysfunctional to be charged with possession of your own image,” Justin Patchin, a professor of criminal justice at the University of Wisconsin and cyberbullying expert, told the Guardian. “I don’t think it should be a criminal offense where there is no victim.”

“You’re talking about millions of kids being charged with child pornography” if the law were applied nationwide, psychologist Jeff Temple of the University of Texas Medical Branch told the Fayette Observer.

Others delivered even starker assessments.

“It’s ludicrous,” Fred Lane, a computer security and privacy expert, told the Guardian. “It’s crazy. It’s an overreach.” He explained that such laws stem from the 1983 Supreme Court decision upholding a ban on child porn, but that many state laws were woefully outdated in our current era of cellphones and texting.

Sgt. Sean Swain is not impressed with the outcry. In what is sure to earn a nomination for “Most Ludicrous Comment by Law Enforcement Personnel, 2015,” Sgt. Swain insists that he is saving these poor, misguided kids by arresting them for multiple felonies. Seriously. (Bolding, as always, is mine.)

“This technology and this problem that we’re having with this case, we don’t know where it’s going to go in five years when they apply for college,” Swain said. “We don’t know where these pictures are going to go. We’re more or less saving the kids from themselves because they’re not seeing what’s going to come down the road.”

Oh, fuck off. Or for a less vulgar response, here is U. of Miami law professor Mary Anne Franks:

“This [case] demonstrates an utter failure to understand the nature of sexual exploitation,” she wrote in an e-mail to The Post. “Consensual sexual activity among peers should not be a crime; we should not allow our social hysteria over teen sexual activity to justify prosecutions that will destroy teenagers’ lives ‘for their own good.’ ”

….

“Sexual activity that does not even involve another person — such as taking a sexually explicit photo of yourself — should not ever be a crime. In fact, criminalizing such expression likely violates the First Amendment,” she said. “Child sexual exploitation laws were clearly designed to address the exploitation of children by adults, not teenagers exploring their sexuality on their own or with a willing peer.”

Officials would be better off focusing on numerous instances of people maliciously sharing explicit photos or videos against the wishes of those depicted, so called “revenge porn,” she said.

“Non-consensual sexual activity, on the other hand, including the creation or distribution of private sexual images, is wrong and should be a crime. This should be the focus of law enforcement, yet North Carolina does not yet even have a law prohibiting this conduct,” Franks said.

What makes me even more sick over this case? Rather than risk their futures in a legal fight, they both signed plea deals.

….

both teens have taken plea agreements in order to avoid trial. In July, Denson pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of “disseminating harmful material to minors.” If she stays out of trouble for the next year, her record will be wiped clean and she will avoid the label of sex offender.

Copening followed suit earlier this month, pleading guilty on Sept. 4 to two similar misdemeanor counts in exchange for the same deal.

Now let’s watch the authorities responsible justify their actions.

“The legislature makes the law; I enforce it,” Cumberland County District Attorney Billy West told the Fayette Observer. “The legislature has obviously criminalized the conduct, arguably at a more serious level than we resolved the case at.”

Similarly, Sheriff Moose Butler told the newspaper that he didn’t necessarily agree with the felony charges but that it was his duty to enforce the law as it’s written.

While the actual author of the law just rolls his eyes.

But the man who wrote the law back in 1990 said he never intended for it to be used against kids in a consensual relationship.

“That would seem to me not the thing that most prosecutors are elected to do,” said North Carolina state Rep. Paul “Skip” Stam of West’s decision to prosecute the two teens.

Seriously, that justification from DA West is laughable. He’s telling us that he has never made a judgement call while in office? Bullshit. By his logic, why does it even matter who the DA even is if all they do is mindlessly follow a set of guidelines handed down by the legislature?

Okay, there is beating a dead horse and then there is the rapid fire, blister-raising, skin-chafing deceased equine torture that only takes place when Mike Huckabee sees something that would let him use the words “martyr” and “persecution” in a sentence near the word “Christian.” While it is perhaps the easiest thing in the world today to find a person to compare Kentucky law-breaker-for-Jebus Kim Davis to (Seriously. Think of anyone you know who sucks at their job. Got someone in mind? There’s your comparison for Kim Davis. You’re welcome.), to say Huckabee is reaching a bit with his latest comparison is kinda like saying that Huckabee mentions his faith every now and then. Really Mike? Abe fucking Lincoln?

Appearing on MSNBC this morning, Huckabee said that’s just like Abraham Lincoln, who was not in favor of the Supreme Court’s 1857 Dred Scott decision which held that African Americans were not full citizens.

“Look, you would have hated Lincoln, because he disregarded the Dred Scott 1857 decision that said black people aren’t fully human,” Huckabee said when host Joe Scarborough questioned him about his support of Davis. “[Lincoln] disregarded [Dred Scott] because he knew it was not operative, that it was not logical.”

No, Mike. No. Although it is an easy mistake. Here, I will help you out. Abe Lincoln was President of the United States, that position you want but will never ever have. Sorry. Before he had the job you will never have, the Supreme Court got really high on some nasty drugs and issued the Dred Scott ruling. Lincoln was not in favor of what may be the worst Supreme Court ruling in the history of our nation. a ruling that pointed at all the stuff in the Constitution that talked about “all men” and “created equal” and such and so on, then said “oh but not for darky, oh snap!” At which point the Justices in the majority probably high fived, made a few racist jokes, smacked their secretary on the ass, then ran out the door and jumped in the windows of the General Lee, which they drove out to the farm where they kept the slaves they used for sex. (Or something like that. ; ) This was in a time of upheaval and change that led to The War to Keep Black People as Property. (Hey, if southern revisionists can give it names like “The War of Northern Aggression,” then I can name it as I see it as well.) Now this is important, so pay attention. While Lincoln disagreed with Dred Scott and spoke against it, he never refused to issue any marriage licenses because of his personal talks with J.C.

Kim Davis, on the other hand, is an elected official who really needs to do her fucking job. A job that she apparently does not understand. She is not required to morally approve of the relationship between the people applying for marriage licenses, she is just required to verify the people meet the legal standards to get married. Thanks to the Supreme Court people can get married now to people who have the same no-no spots, so peens and peens and hoohas with hoohas. Her job is “paperwork is good? Check. Issue license.” Other than her son, all the deputy clerks in her office are totally down with the law and their job and are all like “Judge type person, we want to do our jobs but crazy Christian lady scares us and will probably fire us, and we like having jobs, so help!?!” Unfortunately, Kim Davis believes that every time she issues a marriage license she is saying, loud and proud, that Jesus H. Christ, acting through his oh so humble vessel Kim Davis, morally approves of this love match between no no spots that are not the same.

Now some of you may be reading along thinking (out-loud cause thinking be hard when done at the same time as reading) well good for Kim, after all, “God made Adam and Eve not Adam and Steve!” If you are thinking that please send me a message and permission to use your real name and likeness. But your homophobia aside, this is one of those slopes that are like slip and slides, you know, like the homophobes insisted that gay marriage would unleash an unstoppable torrent of increasingly absurd marriages (man marries dog, man marries baby, man marries frog, man marries toaster oven, man marries Fleshlight, man marries right hand, man marries ham sandwich, asks for annulment upon eating said sandwich, man marries both his left and right hands, society has crumbled, cats and dogs living together, seas of blood, checkmate, atheist! I mean checkmate pro-equality fascist!) except this slope is actually slick and all sorts of things are ready to start slipping on down. (And no, no gay man is going to slip anything into any scared straight guys because of the Supreme Court. Unless the scared straight guy wants something slipped inside, in which case two consenting adults yadayada) What do I mean? Well, if this homobigot in Kentucky can refuse to give teh ghays a marriage license cause Jesus, then what exactly is stopping the Clerk in Alabama to stop issuing interracial marriage licenses cause of his Jesus? Then Clerks all over the nation go crazy, with different marriage requirements in every county, let alone every state.

“Hi, we’d like to get a marriage license.”

“Sorry son, but it is against my religious convictions to issue a license to anyone under 33. If Jesus thought you should get married young, he would have been married before he died. Now you can’t go to the next county over either, cause Jed believes with all his Jesus loving heart that blonds and brunettes are not allowed to get married to each other. It is crazy, he makes people prove their natural hair color. The county down south is pretty much out as well, I’m afraid, as Clerk Robertl Silma seemingly issues licenses at random. See he took a vow of silence last year and he never did learn to write, so no one has been able to figure out why he refuses each couple. Now if your star signs are compatible, Clerk Grisn in Chekard county will issue you a licens….what’s that? She’s a Scorpio? Well, that options out the window. You can’t go to North county cause you’re a lefty, can’t go to Brower county cause she is jewish and you’re Christian, can’t go to Lux county unless you speak in tongues, you can’t speak in tongues can you? Thought not, let’s see….”

-4 hours later-

“Alright, if you go to Tuscaluna county

“Um, that’s a 5 hour drive….”

“Are you going to keep interrupting me? As I was saying, if you go to Tuscaluna county and drive towards the state park, you will find a cabin right outside the park. In the cabin lives a woman who will give you a token that proves your true love. Once you have the token, then drive out of state, to Misango county. While the Clerk is only on duty one Tuesday a month, since the county has a population of 272, and he is so conservative that he refuses marriage licenses to women who wear pants, but he does believe in true love and will issue no question asked licenses to anyone who brings the woman’s token.”

“You’re sending me on a fucking quest to get a marriage license?

So yeah. Kim Davis does not equal Abe Lincoln. Kim Davis is also not a martyr, unless being locked in jail until you ask to be let out is actually a path to martyrdom. Which, while personally not a believer in martyrdom, I still get the feeling the actual people who got horribly tortured to death for their faith would tell Kim Davis to eat a bag of dicks.

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About the Author

Described as "intelligent but self-destructive," Foster Disbelief spent his twenties furiously attempting to waste his potential in a haze of religion and heroin. Science and atheism allowed him to escape his twin addictions and he now spends his days attempting to make the most of his three remaining brain cells.